Baby led weaning - join me?

[TootToot]

DD2 is 5 1/2 months old. I want to begin baby led weaning but need someone to chat to etc about it all. Fancy joining me to compare notes etc? Have looked at the brilliant babyledweaning.co.uk site/blog and everything looks great.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of gating apple. Thanks!

cadeaux- what sort of things do you yourself normally eat at meal times? as long as it's fairly healthy stuff just pass some to your dd and let her have a go!

BLW sounds great! Would love to just give her what we are eating. do you have to worry about the food's salt/sugar content?

yes, keep the salt low certainly don't add it to anything. i think it's no more than a gram per day for babies. so be careful with bread. if you like salt on your food add it after you've given your baby theirs, but really we could all do with less salt anyway.

and yes, keep sugar low for obvious reasons. no need for puddings.

hi my ds2 (now 2 1/2) pretty much rejected purees so went the BLW way due to his own inclination. I had read a bit about it so was happy to let him try whatever he felt like. He also had severe reflux so I reckoned it was better for him to control what he ate rather than me forcing things down his throat (apart from the meds of course ). I did have to stop my neighbour chopping things up for him though!

He rarely eats huge amounts in one go, but I'm very proud that he is one of the least fussy children I've met - he will try anything, even preserved chillies!! I certainly won't be doing purees with my next one.

My understanding of the weaning process is that any 'solid' food is only supplementary to the milk, whether breastmilk or formula, and this applies for quite a long time. So even if they chuck everything on the floor, as long as they are getting their milk, you don't have to worry about them being well nourished. That was certainly the attitude I took with ds2, which stopped me being so stressed about whether he 'ate' anything at meal times at all. Just view 'mealtimes' as being times for exploring food rather than eating.

Also, refluxers have a higher risk of ending up with feeding aversions than other babies, and I'm very proud that ds2 is so keen to try anything. Although it's purely anecdotal, I wouldn't be surprised if the BLW was something to do with this.

so I just wanted to say good luck to all of you and keep going, you'll get used to it (and so will they)

oh and although I would generally just offer whatever is on the family plate (with usual provisos about salt etc.) there are also some great ideas for finger food in the Jennie Maizels book if you do feel like cooking something special for the little ones.

Can anyone recommend a good BLW book?
Thanks

hi, my ds2 is 5.5 months, i started weaning when he was 4.5mths as he was so hungry and cant have normal formula (due to milk intolerance) he is bf still and will be for quite a while.

i had started on some purees, which he wolfed down and now mash them with the potato masher, he manages well on the lumps of carrot, sweet pot, swede, apple and pear etc. (except butternut squash which he hates)i still mix fruit puree in to babyrice and prescribed formula to get him to have extra milk (as im going back to work and as he wont drink his new milk he has to get it in somehow) (i cant express enough to keep up with his intake )

as soon as he can im planning to move on to this blw stage, has anyone else started on purees and then swapped over to the blw? did your little ones manage ok? hes used to most tasets now so i think it will be acase of actually getting his aim on target?

sorry that was quite a long post

there aren't really any BLW books yet. there are of course plenty about finger foods in general, but not about BLW. your best bet is babyledweaning.com which links to other useful stuff.

babyled weaning blog

Dizzybinterwonderland - how does the grating thing work? Presume coarsely grated? S'pose apple does work better that way, bit hard otherwise. Might try tomorrow. Any experience of pasta twists?
Just had detour to babyledwaening.com which cheered me heartily and produced a chuckle or two too - thoroughly recommend.

yes just peel the apple, core it and grate it. i do it on the thickest grater bit. works well with chinese pear too.

dd loves pasta twists. trying her with spaghetti tomorrow.

some of my dd's pics are on babyledweaning.com, she's dizziebaby!!

Thanks Dizzy and lulu will pop there now

worleywinterwonderland - we started (half-heartedly) with purees, and DS still has them with childminder and if I'm feeling emotionally fragile (re:gagging stress) - but he seems to swap between the 2 quite happliy and will willingly chase bits of food around his place mat. Give it a go!

ooohhh looks fab!!!! I shall sit down and have a proper read of it...Sounds great to me, my friends think I'm mad for not wanting to start weaning till between 5 and 6 months....should I wait till 6? how have others begun????

by the way Dizzy your mini Dizzy is gorgeous!!!!

Thank you for the advice Dizzy. That is pretty much what we do so long as we are eating something healthy. (6/7 nights...)

I am off to look at the link. (DD2 is DB#4 so we are pretty relaxed about her eating/choosing not to eat.)

awwww thanks! i have about 50million pics of her eating of course.

i started at 6 months. it is easier if you wait til then cos they're better with their co ordination. and 6 months is the recommended age also. have you read the gill rapley study? link is on that blog.

we have had to re think a lot of what we eat cadeaux. i could have only said maybe 2/7 nights were even remotely healthy! so blw has been good for all of us.

Will do that Dizzy - feel more positive about approaching weaning now - and you really start straight off with appropiate finger food?? wow - makes sense but I still find it amazing that there is this massive industry based on "you MUST slush food up before it can be fed to your baby"

YES! have fun!

I agree miniDizzy is adorable!
Just wondering how much of the food pieces does she eat? Does she have teeth?
Have tried DD on breadstix, toast, avocado, banana, etc., but she doesn't do much more than make mush of them and bite off a few bits. Worried if I don't give her mashed up stuff on spoon that she won't get enough.

My computer does not seem to want to let me see the blog...

I will continue to seek advice here though.

Dd2 did not like the grated apple but she was happy to share dd1's porridge this morning--go figure!

my ds is 6 months and i want to do BLW but he can't sit up yet or put things in his own mouth s i don't really know what to do. do you have to start weaning at 6m onths or can you wait? toot toot your ds was 5.5 months when you started - could he do both these things? well obviously he must have been able to do the latter but he could he sit up unsupported?

sorry dd